Death by Vanilla Latte

Ever since cafe owner Krissy Hancock settled into a relationship and mostly forgot about old flames, life in Pine Hills, Ohio has become surprisingly serene. Then her father, famed mystery writer James Hancock, pays an unexpected visit to Death by Coffee and brews up a batch of trouble.

Caught off-guard by her dad's presence, Krissy never dreamed he would become the biggest murder suspect in town. But that is exactly what happens when James's boorish agent — a man he allegedly fired only hours earlier — is found cold and lifeless, a still-warm vanilla latte resting by his hand.

The fourth Bookstore Cafe Mystery keeps the series' bookshop-and-coffee-shop setting and its steady, small-town amateur-sleuth pacing.